Balancing Emotions with Essential Oils

By Tina Mataya

Essential oils are kind of amazing in that you often don’t realize how powerful they are until you really need them. And they really deliver. When everything is great, and you feel healthy, it’s challenging to notice a big shift from the oils.

The physical symptoms we suffer is the body’s way of telling us that some systems inside us are imbalanced and need to be brought back into balance. Happiness and unhappiness – mood swings – are a reflection of our emotional balance, where unhappiness tells us that something is wrong. It can be anything, our work, company or our thoughts.

Since the 1920’s, scientists have believed that the human nose is capable of detecting about 10,000 odors, but a new study published in the journal Science, shows this estimate is way off the mark. In the first study of its kind, researchers at Rockefeller University discovered the human nose can discriminate more than one trillion different scents. Once registered, scent travels faster to the brain than either sight or sound. In fact, when you first smell a new scent, your brain forges a link between the smell and a memory of an event, thing, person or a moment. When you encounter that smell again, the brain recalls the memory and emotion associated with the scent, which is why certain aromas remind us of past memories, influence our moods and can even affect our work performance.

The olfactory bulb is part of the limbic system of the brain and is responsible for sending these smells to the brain for processing. Once it reaches the brain, it triggers the hippocampus and the amygdala where our memories and emotions are stored. Essential oils can have a dramatic effect on limbic function, directly related to their strong aromatic fragrance. It is often called the “emotional switchboard of the brain” because it’s responsible for receiving sensory input from the environment then sending it to the hypothalamus and other parts of the body. I have read that inhaling an oil through the nose, then forcefully exhaling through the mouth allows the body to best release emotions that no longer serve you.

Psychologist Robert Plutchik states that there are eight basic emotions: Joy, Trust, Fear, Surprise, Sadness, Anticipation, Anger, and Disgust. Within these emotions, of course, there are different levels. For instance, anger at its lowest level of intensity is annoyance; at its highest anger becomes rage. While there are many different oils that support the emotions, here are a few of my favorites that help balance feelings and create a sense of well-being:

Most of these oils are available in the Feelings™ Collection, designed with 6 essential oils that inspire feelings of emotional well-being when diffused. However, the Premium Starter Kit also contains several oils that can help balance emotions as well (those are marked with an asterisk above). No matter what emotion you are feeling, essential oils can help you maintain your balance in this rollercoaster world we live in. If you’re interested to find out more about how essential oils may help you, please schedule a contact me. I’d love to hear from you!

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The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human body, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.
~Thomas Edison

"For us to become whole and healthy, we must balance the body, mind, and spirit. We need to take good care of our bodies. We need to have a positive mental attitude about ourselves and about life. And we need to have a strong spiritual connection. When these three things are balanced, we rejoice in living. No doctor or health practitioner can give us this unless we choose to take part in our healing process."
~Louise Hay